3 Common Spinning Injuries Caused By Your Bike
3 Common Spinning Injuries Caused by Your Bike
My Spin bike and I have a love-hate relationship. It exhausts me, pushes me to my limits, and more times than not, it empowers me. Recently though, it's been inflicting a lot of pain.
I'm not talking about muscle soreness, either. (Admittedly, I can celebrate that kind of discomfort.) For me, it's foot pain that is discourageing and distracting.
Breaking up with my bike is out of the question, so I got in touch with Eric Komo, a certified instructor at CycleBar, to see if I was making any Spin mishaps that were causing my pain.
As it turns out, cyclists everywhere are susceptible to a slew of bike-related conditions from foot to knee to lower back pain.
First, Komo laid the foundation by explaining how to properly position your Spin bike.
Starting with the seat height, bring the saddle to the top of your hip bone. You should have almost a full extension of your leg at the bottom of the pedal stroke without overextending your knee. A little bend in the knee is key. Your handlebar height should be level with your seat. If you extend your arms out in front of you, the end of your elbows should be at the tip of your seat, and you should have about an inch of space between the handlebars and your fingertips.
With that said, Komo walked me through three of the most common Spinning injury scenarios — which I'm sharing with you — plus tips on how to prevent or remedy the pain.
Foot Pain
According to Komo, clenching your toes inside of your shoes in order to gain control can often cause foot pain amongst cyclists — the same goes for your hands and shoulders, too.
He urges riders to "let it go" and be cognizant of this tension by relaxing your muscles.
Lower Back Pain
Your bike setup is probably the reason you're experiencing lower back pain, Komo says.
Even if you think riding with your handlebars higher than your seat is more comfortable, he claims, "you'll pay for it later." This positioning actually creates a bend in your back instead of keeping it flat as you ride.
Komo also notes that "crazy choreography that makes you feel like a pretzel riding a bike" can flare that back pain, too.
Knee Pain
Knee pain is usually due to those "tough moments when your core wanted to be done, and you start to become too close of friends with your handlebars," Komo explains.
To prevent this, Komo suggests keeping your hips back over the saddle and bringing your knees behind the resistance knob.
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